Justice Centre Hong Kong’s Schools’ Partnership Programme
Justice Club: Because Human Rights Matter.
Who is Justice Centre Hong Kong?
Justice Centre Hong Kong is a non-profit human rights organisation working fearlessly to protect
the rights of Hong Kong’s most vulnerable forced migrants - refugees, other people seeking
protection and survivors of modern slavery.
A non-profit organisation launched in 2014, Justice Centre Hong Kong was formerly Hong Kong
Refugee Advice Centre, which over seven years, helped more than 2,000 refugee men, women
and children on the road to a new life. Since we relaunched, we now work both on refugee issues
and modern slavery in Hong Kong.
We seek to transform the lives and realities of some of Hong Kong’s most vulnerable people
through human rights. We focus on Hong Kong, the city where we live, work and study. People in
our city are in need and there is something we can do about it; it’s our problem to fix.
How do we do it?
At our centre in Sai Ying Pun, we work directly with individual refugees, but we also work
simultaneously to change the system. We provide independent legal information and assistance
open to all people seeking protection in Hong Kong. We provide one-to-one specialised support to
the most vulnerable refugees including children, people who have survived traumas, people who
are mentally or physically unwell, and families. We supply food and transport money to refugees
who come to our centre; we also have a social worker to assist.
We advocate with and for refugees and survivors of modern slavery, finding respectful and
appropriate ways to bring their voices into the public debate. We campaign for better legislation
and policies, conduct research and work with schools, universities and the media to address root
causes and change the systems that deny refugees their rights and allow slavery to exist in Hong
Kong.
We receive no government funding or money from the UN Refugee Agency. Instead, we run an
innovative model where international law firms provide financial support and the time of their own
lawyers to help with legal research and assistance.
What is Justice Club?
What if all the passion, ideas and efforts of students were focused on a clear strategy that would
lead to social justice for refugees and survivors of slavery in Hong Kong? We believe it can. Justice
Club is about students getting together within and between schools around a set of clear, ambitious
and strategic human rights goals, and then campaigning, taking action, fundraising and bringing
about change and achieving those goals.
Why set them up?
We frequently get asked to talk at schools, and we try to accommodate every request as we want
to grow the next generation of human rights advocates in Hong Kong. We meet many inspiring
young students, and we leave many students inspired by our work. But we are often left feeling like
there must be more…
That’s why we want to set up Justice Clubs, partnerships with students, teachers and schools
across Hong Kong to channel and leverage your passion for social justice and achieve real
outcomes and change in human rights in Hong Kong.
How would it work?
Currently, we are meeting with schools in Hong Kong who are actively interested in social justice,
developing two-year partnerships to establish Justice Club chapters in each school and a Justice
Club network. We aim to start with five to six schools in the 2014/2015 school year.
Justice Club is student-run and student-led, with the guidance and assistance of a Justice Centre
staff member to help make Justice Club a dynamic and effective tool for social justice. We would
also ask for a teacher focal point for us to liaise with, in addition to our interactions with each club.
What would we do to help you set up your Club?
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Kickstart the planning by coming to your school (with a refugee where possible) to talk about
refugee issues and/or modern slavery.
Deliver a strategic planning workshop to help develop your own goals and give training on
human rights, refugees and modern slavery.
Supply a toolkit to get your club going.
Help create an agreed plan of activities tailored to the needs of your school, including some of
the following:
 TALKS
 VISITS to Justice Centre
 CAMPAIGNS for clubs to run at a school level, such as our upcoming ‘Hungry for
Change’ campaign in October 2014
 COMPETITIONS and EVENTS for clubs to participate in, including entering the
student category of the annual ‘Hong Kong Human Rights Arts Prize’, run by Justice
Centre
 LIVE SIMULATION about what it’s like to be a refugee
 CURRICULUM RESOURCES on human rights, refugees and modern slavery and
access to Justice Centre reports, briefings and policy documents
 JUSTICE CLUB FACEBOOK PAGE to profile each club’s activities, and provide an
opportunity to network with other chapters and organisations, and share ideas, learning
and experiences
 GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETINGS – bringing together the network of Justice Clubs
across Hong Kong.
Fundraising
As real change requires sustained input on multiple levels, in addition to campaigning, we ask
partner schools to support the work of Justice Centre by engaging in fundraising to support Justice
Centre’s work. We are happy to provide ideas for creative fundraising initiatives and events to
complement your club’s activities.
Interested? Contact Tina Chan at [email protected] or at (+852) 31097359